Montreal, QC – In a ceremony presided by JASON ROCKMAN and CATHERINE SMITH-DESBIENS at the MONTREAL COMIC-CON, the 8th Annual Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators and Retailers were presented to an enthusiastic crowd of nominees, friends and fans of the medium. Continue reading →

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We’re now a mere 11 days away from the presentation of the 8th annual Joe Shuster Awards and we’ll be posting some updates as we near the event.

JURY DECISIONS

The Art Jury (Artist, Cover Artist and Webcomics) have finished their selections, as have the ones selecting the Dragon Prize and the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing. That leaves the Retailer Jury and the Story Jury (Cartoonist and Writer), and we hope to have those wrapped up later today or early tomorrow.

HARRY KREMER RETAILER AWARD FINALISTS

The 10 stores have been narrowed down to a final five – watch for a release here shortly.

POSTER

Our promotional image is ready, just waiting for some final approvals.

HALL OF FAME

Our Hall of Fame committee has opted to pass on inducting a new member in 2012.

FINAL AWARDS LIST FOR 2012 (8 awards to be given out in Montreal on September 15):

SAN DIEGO – At-Con International (Comic-Con) last evening, the winners of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2012 were announced. The nominees were chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of judges and the winners were selected by a balloting process open to industry professionals.

Canadians were well represented in many categories but the big winners in last evening’s ceremony were Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand (Archaia) by Toronto artist Ramón K. Pérez (winning 3 of the 5 awards the book was nominated for: Best Graphic Album, Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team, and Best Publication Design), and Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition by Halifax’s Darwyn Cooke (winning 2 of the 3 categories in which it was nominated: Best Short Story “The Seventh”, and Best Graphic Album Reprint Material).

This has been a big year for both Perez and Cooke, and both are nominated for these respective works in the 2012 Joe Shuster Awards, which will be announced in Montreal on September 15th. Cooke’s latest Parker adaptation “The Score” was released in stores on Wednesday.

Guelph’s The Dragon shared the honours for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award with Akira Comics in Madrid, Spain. This was The Dragon’s third turn as an Retailer Award Finalist and we are particularly happy for owner Jennifer Haines and staff and family as they are also sponsors of the Joe Shuster Awards. This was a well-deserved honour.

Ballots were sent out in mid-April to comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers. A downloadable pdf of the ballot was available online, and a special website was set up for online voting.

The Eisner Awards are part of Comic-Con International, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture. Jackie Estrada has been administrator of the Awards since 1990. She can be reached at jackie@comic-con.org.

THREE THIEVES follows the adventures of Dessa Redd, teenage orphan, circus acrobat, and reluctant thief. Publishers Weekly calls the series “an entertaining and action packed new fantasy adventure that will appeal to fans of the genre.”

The first THREE THIEVES volume, TOWER OF TREASURE, the 2011 Shuster Award winner for Best Comic for Kids, will begin weekly serialization on Saturday, May 3rd.

“I got my start in webcomics back in 2000 when the idea was completely new,” says Chantler. “Since then I’ve wanted to return to the idea of having something online for free,” adds the celebrated cartoonist of TWO GENERALS. “It sure helped launch my career, and hopefully it will also bring a wider readership to Three Thieves.”

“Scott was one of the first people I approached about Saturday Morning Webtoons,” says writer J. Torres, founder of SMW, who collaborated with Chantler on the graphic novels DAYS LIKE THIS and SCANDALOUS for Oni Press. “I’m glad he’s finally joining us, and that he’s got the blessing and support of his publisher.”

Kids Can Press (KCP), publisher of the THREE THIEVES graphic novel series, is very enthusiastic about making this online offering. “We’re excited that THREE THIEVES is making its online debut with Saturday Morning Webtoons,” says Michaela Cornell, Communications Strategist for KCP. “It will bring even more young readers to this already well-loved and award-winning series.”

The official announcement of THREE THIEVES joining the SMW line-up will be made at the SMW panel this weekend at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

SMW updates its links every Saturday and points comic readers to some of the best kid-friendly webcomics around, brought to you by popular artists like J. Bone (GOBUKAN), Eric Orchard (ORCHARD OF LAUGHS), Stephanie Buscema (LITTLE TALES OF OTTO AND OLIVE), and Andi Watson (PRINCESS AT MIDNIGHT). The portal first opened in January of this year with weekly and bi-weekly webcomics for fans to follow, as well as a free comic “Download of the Month” feature.

O’Shea: When you get nominated as a potential finalist for The Joe Shuster Awards (Webcomics), does recognition like that help expand your audience for Bun Toons?

Templeton: It’s only been a couple of weeks since the finalist/potential nomination thing was announced, so I can’t tell yet. I tend to have wildly different attention for each Bun Toon, depending on the subject matter. When I pick on Frank Miller or Alan Moore our readership quadruples from the strips when I say sentimental things about my family. Since the short list/nomination announcement, I’ve been getting a fairly average readership, but I haven’t been going after Frank Miller as much lately.

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In about 2 weeks time we’ll be announcing the final list of nominees for the 2012 awards.

2012 will see the presentation of 5 Joe Shuster Awards(down from 7 in 2011):– Artist/Artist Team – Cartoonist – Cover Artist – Webcomics Creator/Creative Team – Writer/Writing Team
and 3 Specialty Awards– The Dragon Award (Comics for Kids) – The Gene Day Award (Small Press) – The Harry Kremer Award (Comic Book Retailer)

Plus at least one Hall of Fame inductee, with a maximum of two inductees in 2012.

For transparency’s sake, here is a final recap of where we stand in the nominating process:

Four categories (artist, writer, cartoonist, cover artist) had two rounds of nominating. In the first, the 13 members presented short lists of creators who had English language comics published in 2011. From the overlapping selections, those who had three or more “votes” advanced to a second round and any creators with more than half of the votes advanced to ballot. In the second round the members ranked their choices from 1-10, with the top selections filling in the empty slots. A concurrent nomcom of 4 selected the finalists from French language comics published in 2011.

Webcomics was handled by the Executive, following a similar selection process, as each member of the Executive reviewed the entire list of eligible webcomics and submitted short lists of their top five, from which the top seven overlapping selections advanced to the final ballot.

While we can only have 7 or 8 nominees per category, we personally feel that the lists below represent the “best of the best” of the Canadian comics scene from 2011.

GENE DAY AWARD FOR SELF PUBLISHING
5 to be selected – winner also receives a $500 bursary
Finalists to be selected from comics submitted for consideration.Short list of considered works not available and the finalists are still undetermined as of today.

THE DRAGON AWARD for
COMICS FOR KIDS
8 were selected
This is a curated award, nominees were selected by teachers and librarians. Short list of considered works not available.

HARRY KREMER RETAILER AWARD
10 were selected – to be narrowed down to 5 in July
Retailers selected from lists of retailers available elsewhere on this site. JSA Executive coordinated visits to shops and evaluated them on things such as presentation, customer service, diversity of material.

HALL OF FAME
Committee selection pending – July 2012

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The following webcomics and their creators have been selected by our nominating committee for consideration for the Oustanding Canadian Webcomics Creator / Creative Team Award. All are worth checking out – you may find your next favourite comic from among them. The finalists will be announced in early May.

This includes places like the Lillian Smith Branch (home of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy which has a large graphic novel contingent) where we held the 2008 Joe Shuster Awards ceremony, and the Metro Toronto Reference Library, the home of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, which is scheduled for May 5-6, 2012 — approximately 6+ weeks away

According to news sources, CUPE (the union that represents 2300+ Toronto Public Library workers) walked away from the bargaining table yesterday, as they felt that the talks with the city and the Toronto Public Library Board weren’t going anywhere. Job security seems to be the primary sticking point.

Bottom line is that for now, Toronto’s public libraries are no longer accessible to Toronto’s citizens, many of whom were able to access some very well-stocked graphic novel collections — particularly at the downtown branches. Borrowers have been told to hold on to the items they checked out of the libraries before Sunday, and that late fees will not be charged for the duration of the strike. Certainly the city’s homeless will be despondent over the lack of access to the Toronto Reference Library’s restrooms.

What does this mean, ultimately, for TCAF? For now, one would hope that the union and the city manage to get together and hammer out a new deal before the Festival, which attracts creators from all around the world and across the country, and is also the weekend for the annual presentation of the Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning.

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The Song of Otto, originally published as a prose re-imagining of the medieval epic Le Chanson deRoland, is now being serialised on HiLobrow.com as a comic. The original story having been set in Roncesvalles, France, The Song of Otto takes place in a futuristic Roncesvalles Village, depicting the final crusade of a group of kids led by a boy named Otto. The first installment of the comic was published Monday, February 12th and the series will run for nine consecutive days.

The artist, Frank Fiorentino, is an OCAD graduate and freelance illustrator now living in London, England. The author, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, is a novelist and short fiction writer teaching at the University of Toronto and the University of Guelph.

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Here’s another great project that needs your help! Little Heart is a comics anthology created to show support for marriage equality. It was initially created to raise awareness of a coming referendum in Minnesota, but it’s spread much wider. It also happens to feature JSA winner Emily Carroll and her fiancee Kate Craig, as well as many other great artists, plus a forward written by TCAF co-founder Christopher Butcher. The campaign is doing quite well so far but needs all the support it can get. Head over to Kickstarter to donate!

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I’m a big fan of crowdsourced comics, and here’s a chance to help out a JSA nominee! Ed Brisson’s fantastic Murder Book series has already had two issues published, and now Volume 3 is coming out in March. You can help out for $7 and get a fresh, signed copy when it’s printed, shipping included! Or even better, throw in a few dollars more and you can get the back issues of Murder Book as well as Ed’s amazing Acts Of Violence anthology. It’s a great way to get money directly to the creators. Check it out at Indie Go-Go and choose your level of support.

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You may not have known it, but February 1 was Hourly Comic Day! This started officially last year, curated by the brilliant John Campbell, creator of Pictures For Sad Children. This year saw over 200 participants, and several Canadians joined in on the fun. The rules are simple: chronicle each hour of your day with a comic. There’s some great insights on the creative process here, and lots of cathartic venting as well. It’s a fascinating exercise, and well worth looking into. The whole forum is available here, but here’s a few of the Canadians who participated!

“Webcomics are often cited as the future of comics and the internet and I don’t know what else, but the fact that no one has retired from them yet means that I, at least, rest a little uneasy in these shoes sometimes if only for the lack of having a dependable compass by which to steer the ship. I just want to make the best decisions I can, so that I will be around longer, making drawings and comics and writing and other things that I hope people will enjoy. “

Kate has aspirations to do other work, and has a desire to profit from her success, rightly so. The one aspect I find most interesting is the desire to placate the anonymous internet masses, a group that will surely turn their back on you the moment they lose interest and see something else shiny, which makes sense becauseit is these same internet masses that launched her into the cartooning stratosphere.

Despite her consternation, “I’ve been pacing the room about what decisions to make. … Anyway: to be honest with you, I’ve taken on freelance work in the past years and that’s been well and fine, but I’ve never given other long term projects a chance, because I can never detach myself from the website”, Beaton will be wildly successful in these new projects. Have faith, Kate! If you lose some of your internet-only fans, you’ll gain fans through these new paying jobs, and the success will continue.

People love cat jokes!

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The Trinity College Comedy Collective will be interviewing Ryan North (DINOSAUR COMICS, MACHINE OF DEATH) and Joey Comeau (A SOFTER WORLD) live this Tuesday evening at Trinity College, Toronto. Should be a great evening, both these gentlemen make for great conversation. And there are prizes too! More info at the TCCC facebook event page.

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Sorry about the lack of updates this week, so much has been going on with… well, everything this week.

Between the announcement of the guest list for the March Toronto ComiCon, plans and coordination for Fan Expo Vancouver in April, the Dragon Lady closing and all of the related press coverage that has been getting, rumours of what is going to happen next with the Silver Snail, coordinating some shipments I have coming in and going out, and so on (not to mention my research work during the day) I haven’t had time to do much posting. Robert has been working on more regional retailer round-ups.

Next week:

– we’ll be posting the Eligible Creators List for 2011 that we’ll be looking for feedback on. 2012 Nominating committee will be finalized and we can get on with selecting the list for 2012. Andrew completed the updates to the Webcomics list last weekend so if you haven’t had time to check it out, please take a look and discover some great comics.

– on Wednesday night in Toronto it’s the Jim Henson’s A Tale of Sand Industry Night release party at the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop with Ramon Perez. It looks like we have copies of the book available for the event so come on down and check it out of you can.

– Finally, I’ve been working on something top secret that I hope to be able to share the news about with you as early as next Monday.

It’s been a long, long time coming, but I’ve finally completed the update for our list of Canadian Webcomics. Thanks to everyone who’s been sending links, rest assured that future updates will be far more immediate. There’s some phenomenal work in there from great Canadian artists and writers. If you’re Canadian and have a webcomic or are a fan of one that’s not on the list already, please send an email to andrew@joeshusterawards.com and I’ll update accordingly. Enjoy!

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About Us

Comic books, like Jazz, are a North American invention that has been embraced all over the globe --- and from the Platinum Age to the present, Canadian artists, writers and cartoonists have been shaping it along the way.

The Joe Shuster Awards celebrate Canadians who create comics at home or abroad. They are named after Joe Shuster, the Canadian artist that co-created a character that has had tremendous impact on the industry and the world.

The Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association seeks to identify and provide FREE resources on the who, what, when and where of Canadians working in comics, selling comics, and celebrating comics.

What if a Canadian Creator Moves Away? Joe Shuster, Hal Foster – are they really Canadian?

Is Superman Canadian? Our position.

Taking us beyond the New Frontier: Darwyn Cooke (1962-2016)

Positive Spirit and Determination: Debra Jane Shelly (1974-2014)

Jerry Robinson (1922-2011)

Thank you, Jerry. We will miss you.

2014 Winners were announced on September, 2014 in Toronto (click image to see results)

2014 Winners Announced in Toronto

2013 Winners were announced on August 24, 2013 in Toronto (click image to see results)

2012 WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON 9/15/2012 IN MONTREAL (CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR DETAILS)

2011 WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON 6/18/2011 IN CALGARY (CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR DETAILS)